It’s a new week and a return to box-office form for Pixar. The animation studio’s newest movie, Inside Out 2, scored a way-beyond-expectations $155 million at the domestic box office this past weekend — the biggest box office debut of 2024. It also made an additional $140 million internationally. After Disney relegated Pixar’s movies to Disney+ during COVID (which led to the theatrical underperformance of Lightyear and the slow growth of Elemental), many questioned if the brand behind Toy Story and The Incredibles was still, at least business-speaking, the gold standard of animation. There are certainly no questions anymore.

In other news… sneaker brands chase WNBA stars, brands want you to touch and taste their marketing, and Pharrell may be dissing Drake through Despicable Me.

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• YouTube – Kneecap

• X (Twitter) – The Tony Awards

• Google – House of the Dragon

• Reddit – Billie Eilish

• TikTok – “PORSCHE” - NXY0TAR0

• Spotify – “Long White Veil” - The Decemberists

.SPORTS.

Sneaker giants sprint to sign fresh WNBA talent

The Future. As the popularity of the WNBA continues to rise, sneaker brands are finally stepping up their sponsorship game. The new deals, cutting-edge products, and associated marketing could finally help drive up the price of media rights for women’s basketball to get closer to parity with men’s.

Lacing up the league
Welcome to the new sneaker wars.

• Nike inked a multi-year, $28 million deal with rookie superstar Caitlin Clark and debuted a collection with two-time champion A’ja Wilson.

• The Swoosh will also release Sabrina Ionescu’s new sneaker (sales of previous versions — which NBA players also love — have increased 200% on StockX).

• Reebok, which now counts Shaq as its head of basketball, scored a deal with Angel Reese for a signature line.

• New Balance signed its first-ever women’s basketball player last summer with the sponsorship of Cameron Brinks.

• Adidas, in a shocker move, signed newly retired star Candace Parker as the head of its women’s basketball division.

The signings come as women’s college and pro basketball have blown up in popularity recently — so much so that this year’s women’s Final Four had a larger audience than the men’s tournament for the first time ever. Meanwhile, WNBA viewership is at its highest in 13 years.

And considering a study last year by RBC and Wasserman found that “fans of women’s sports are 54% more aware of women’s sports sponsors — and 45% more likely to consider purchasing from sponsor brands — than fans of men’s sports,” according to Fast Company, the business upside could be a huge win.

73.2% of you voted No in Friday’s poll: Do you use travel agents?

“I find it inconvenient to involve a middle man […] I’m particular about my schedule, location, and pricing and often want to maximize use or earning of reward points and miles. I like going to the property or carrier directly and find I get a better deal and schedule without constant back and forth. My husband has to use an agent for work travel, and it’s a time suck; plus, they frequently make mistakes they can’t fix.”

“Planning vacations is fun for me so it seems like a waste of money.”

“Just used a Costco travel agent to book our trip to Ireland.”

.A WORD FROM OUR FRIENDS AT MUNCH.

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• Saves time & resources: No more spending hours manually editing and cropping for social media.

• Staying ahead of the curve: Built-in trend analysis and search performance.

• Multilingual: Supports 20+ languages for a worldwide audience.

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Keep your brand front and center with minimal effort.  And now you can get 50% OFF your first month of a Munch plan. Just use PARTY50 at checkout.

Media, Music, & Entertainment

• Deadpool & Wolverine is estimated to open to at least $200 million at the box office, according to tracking firm The Quorum, which would be the biggest debut for an R-rated film ever. [Read More]

• Shonda Rhimes (creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal) is joining Tiger Woods and Serena and Venus Williams as an investor in the Los Angeles Golf Club — the LA team of a new golf league called TGL. [Read More]

• People are convinced that Pharrell’s new song on the Despicable Me 4 soundtrack, “Double Life,” is secretly a Drake diss track. [Read More]

Fashion & E-Commerce

• Walmart is opening a private-label fashion line, No Boundaries, aimed at Gen Z by offering clothes for under $15 — a clear competitor to SHEIN and Temu. [Read More]

• Tyler, the Creator’s GOLF le FLEUR* is collabing with homeware brand Parachute on a bedding collection. [Read More]

• Kitchenware brand Le Creuset has chosen Pokémon for a new cookware collab (brand partnerships are officially out of control). [Read More]

Tech, Web3, & AI

• Tesla has approved a mind-bogglingly $50-billion pay package for CEO Elon Musk. [Read More]

• Microsoft announced that the bonuses for its top executives will be partly based on how they shore up their divisions’ cybersecurity. [Read More]

• Facial recognition firm Clearview AI is offering to give anyone whose face has been scanned by Clearview’s tech a piece of equity in the company to settle a class-action lawsuit. [Read More]

Creator Economy

• Cannes Lions is catering to digital influencers with the launch of Creator Pass, which offers a mix of networking and learning events. [Read More]

• US adults say TikTok is the most trusted social platform for news, according to a study by Pew. [Read More]

• Jake Paul debuted a new skincare brand called W, which will be sold at Walmart. [Read More]

.MARKETING.

Companies experiment with “multisensory branding”

The Future. Brands are beginning to play with a “multisensory marketing” strategy — marketing that engages a customer’s five senses — to help people better engage with and recall their advertising. The trend may inspire ad agencies to hire mixologists, chefs, and musicians to join their creative ranks.

Taste, touch, feel, spend
Mastercard is one of the many brands exploring the possibilities of multisensory marketing.

• For touch, it rolled out “touch cards” with notches that are meant to help the visually impaired.

• For sight, it refreshed its logo to make the distinctive red and yellow circles more visually appealing… and even took out the brand name.

• For sound, it recorded a 1.3-second sound that plays at hundreds of millions of point-of-sale terminals when a Mastercard is used.

• For smell, it developed two fragrances — Priceless Passion and Priceless Optimism — which come in red and yellow bottles.

• For taste, it opened restaurants in cities like NYC, Rome, and Hong Kong and even crafted unique macarons and cocktails (again, in red and yellow).

Gabriel Miller, president of branding consultancy Landor, who helped Mastercard (and BMW and Philadelphia Cream Cheese) with several marketing innovations, says, “agencies must invest in more than just design as brands are no longer confined to a visual identity alone.”

Soon, if your brand doesn’t have a signature cocktail, it may be irrelevant.

• Listen: The Future of Everything explores the innovative ways that cities are trying to stay cool as climate change heats up the world.

• Read: WSJ dives into Callaway’s $100 million quest to redesign its signature golf ball.

• Watch: Bloomberg breaks down how Boeing’s many controversies could upend your summer travel plans.

Robot Uber drivers are in development… but definitely still have the “Student Driver” bumper sticker.

LATEST PODCAST EPISODE

Today we get into how concert ticket sales are in a lull, how online publications are using games to game the system, and Apple’s new announcement about AI.